Pocket-atomizer



March 14, 1961 w. RAEHS ETAL POCKETATOMIZER Filed March 50, 1959 nun-Fr.

United States Patent POCKET-ATONIIZER Wilhelm Raehs and Hans Rauchmanu, Stolberg, Rhineland, Germany, assignors to Lingner-Werke G.m.b.H., Dusseldorf, Germany, a corporation Filed Mar. 30, 1959, Ser. No. 802,907

Claims priority, application Germany Jan. 17, 1959 3 Claims. (Cl. 239-357) Known in the prior art are liquid-atomizers, having a rapid stream of air to suck up liquid through a borehole or-tube which extends at right angles with respect to the direction of the stream. Also known are such atomizers having an angle between the direction of the f be controlled with respect to the size of itsdroplets. In

previous designs, the human lung, a piston pump or a rubber ball having been employed as the source of the air-stream. Such atomizers are particularly used for perfume and hairtonics. The operation of such atomizers by means of propulsion gases has also become known.

It is also known that pocket atomizers are troublesome due to the fact that, in contrast to other atomizers, they have to close tightly and must be protected against leaking. because they are used in all positions. In these cases, it is not possible to provide an airhole, as employed in the prior art, for the purpose of preventing a vacuum in the storage container during the extraction of fluids.

In order to eliminate these difliculties, an atomizer has become known using a vertically gliding pumppiston, which'is brought into non-operating position by a spring, said pump-piston forcing an air-stream through a wick which is saturated with the medium to be atomized. The wick, however, has to be presaturated with the material to be atomized by holding the atomizer upside-down and operating it repeatedly. The wick can only absorb a small quantity of this material, and becomes clogged in its capillaries in a comparatively short time, so that a satisfactory operation of the atomizer is not secured in the long run, not counting the inconvenience of always turning the container upside down before use in order to saturate the wick.

The present invention avoids these disadvantages by providing an atomizer designed with a vertical pumppiston, which is brought into non-operating position by a spring, with a lateral discharge-point in the non-moving part, so designed that the piston makes contact with the outside air through an orifice which is preferably lateral, said orifice being closed during the operation of the piston through a flutter-valve protectively arranged inside the piston, by providing communication between the gliding-space of the piston and the spray opening, and by providing as known in the prior art, an ascending tube ending in the orifice, said tube extending down to the bottom of the storage-container.

Due to the flutter-valve it is no longer necessary, as it is for some of the pocket-atomizers known in the prior art, to close the piston-bore during the pressure stroke, nor to open it again during the suction-stroke.

On these known designs, an imperfect closing during the pressure stroke, resulted in a correspondingly lower effect of the pumping-action, and an incorrectly timed opening of the hole during the return-stroke of the piston 2,974,879 Patented Mar. 14, 196 1 caused a sucking of fluid into the pumping-space, thereby v impairing the effectiveness of the atomizer.

The present invention eliminates these disadvantages completely, and also permits operation with one hand.

Thus, the lateral arrangement of the piston-bore proved itself particularly effective.

The flutter-valve is protected through its position in a central-bore hole which, through a cross-bore, is connected with an outer chamber, which, in turn, is in communication with the outside air, through a cross-bore. An ingress of dirt, which might render the sensitive membrane of the valve ineffective, is thereby securely prevented. The discharge point of the ascending tube, which reaches down to the bottom, is dimensioned so small that no fluid can leak out without an effective suction of a passing air-stream. Since the subject of the invention, thereby, does not make a pressure-compensation of the fluid-chamber through a compensation-bore necessary, the atomizer cannot leak statically in any position.

Hereafter, the invention is described in detail by means of an example of operation, and the drawing which is a vertical view of. the atomizer of the invention partly in cross section.

The atomizer is composed of the stationary part, which, in this case, consists of the fluid-container 1, the midsection -2 and the lock-ring 3. In the fluid-container 1 is the fluid-chamber 4, which is tightly sealed through the bottom 5 of the mid-section 2. The connection be tween fluid-container and mid-section may be a screW, adhesive-, or an equally effective connection. The bottom 5 of the mid-section 2 has a large, centrally located bore 6 which does not extend therethrough, and in which, preferably, a spring 7 braced; said spring 7, in turn, is braced at its upper end against a sleeve 8a. A thin horizontal bore 9, ending in a jet-opening 10 extends from the central bore 6. Into the horizontal bore 9 a jet 11 opens, which is at the end of the ascending tube 12. The piston 3 glides snugly through the mid-section 2 and for example the end of the sleeve 8a may be formed as a lipgasket 13. Provided in the piston 8 is a bore 14 which is preferably central and in which a flutter-valve 15 is arranged so that the piston and the sleeve form the chamber for the flutter-valve- Thereby the flutter-valve is put into motion through operating the piston. The bore 14 communicates with an ante-chamber 17 of the piston 8 through a compensating aperture 16. ber 17, in turn, communicates with the outside air, through a suction aperture 18.

It may be advisable to oflset the bores l3 and 16, with respect to each other, in preference to arranging them in a line. On the underside, above the lip-gasket 13, the piston 8 has a shoulder 19, which, with the spring untensioned, braces itself against a corresponding shoulder 20 of a lock-ring or the mid section 2.

In accordance with the invention, the device operates as follows:

If the piston 8 is pressed down, the flutter-valve 15 is forced against its seat and closes the bore 14. Therefore, the compressed air will only be able to escape through the bores 6 and 9 and jet-opening 10, and thereby will carry along the fluid sucked up through the ascending tube 12 and jet 11. Through adjustment of jet 11 and bore 9, the size of the droplets in the mist, thus created, can be controlled. The quantity of fluid drawn through one pump-stroke is so small, that the reduction of pressure occurring thereby in the fluidchamber 4 is practically unimportant and of no effect. When the piston returns upwardly the pressure is compensated without difficulty in the fluid container through the ascending tube 12, the jet 11, the boring 9 and the spray-opening 19, which is in communication with the outside air.

The ante-chamatomizer is operated in any other position whatsoever,

for instance standing upside down, experience has shown that enough fluid reserve is contained in the ascending tube 12 for several sprays.

We claim: a

l. A pocket atomizer comprising a casing including a liquid reservoir and a pump chamber, a piston movable within said chamber between a first position of maximum volume and a second position of minimum volume of said chamber, resilient means to normally urge said piston towards said first position an air passage terrni-' mating in a spray opening and connecting said chamber with the outside atmosphere, a discharge nozzle connected to said reservoir and terminating in said passage substantially transversely thereto, whereby to withdraw liquid from said reservoir by the airstreampassing through said passage upon displacement of said piston within said chamber, said piston being composed of a pair of concentric inner and outer hollow cylindrical members each provided with a venting opening in the cylindrical wall'thereof, to provide a pair of separate communicating inner cylindrical and outer annular spaces with said inner space forming a passageway connected to said pump chamber, and a check valve mounted within said passageway, to block communication 'of said chamber with the outside atmosphere, excepting through said passage, upon displacement of said piston towards said second position and to connect said chamber with the outside atmosphere upon displacement of said piston towards said first position, respectively.

2. A pocket atomizer comprising an oblong casing having a separating wall, to provide a liquid reservoir and a pump chamber, a piston within said chamber being normally resiliently urged towards a first position of maximum volume of said chamber and movable to a second position of minimum volume of said chamber, a lateral air passage within said wall terminating in a spray opening and connecting said chamber with the outside atmosphere, a discharge nozzle connected with said reservoir through a feeding tube and terminating in said passage substantially transversely thereto, whereby to withdraw liquid from said reservoir by the airstream passing through said passage upon displacement of said piston within said chamber, said piston being composed of a pair of concentric inner and outer hollow cylindrical members each provided with a venting opening in the cylindrical wall thereof, to provide a pair of separate communicating inner cylindrical and outer annular spaces with said inner space forming a passageway connected to said pump chamber, and a check valve mounted within said passageway to block communication of said chamber with the outside atmosphere, excepting through said passage, upon displacement of said piston towards said second position and to connect said chamber with the outside atmosphere upon displacement of said piston towards said first position, respectively.

3. A pocket atomizer comprising a casing including a liquid reservoir and a pump chamber, a piston within said chamber normally resiliently urged towards a first position of maximum volume enclosed by said chamber and movable to a second position of minimum volume enclosed by said chamber, an air passage terminating in a spray opening and connecting said'chamber with the surrounding atmosphere, a discharge nozzle connected to said reservoir and terminating in said passage substantially transversely thereto, whereby to withdraw liquid from said reservoir by the airstream through said passage during displacement of said piston within said chamber, said piston being composed of an inner hollow member forming a passageway connected to said pump chamber and an outer hollow member enclosing References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,845,200 Segal Feb. 16, 1932 2,081,674 Mehrman May. 25, 1937 2,266,767 Linden et al. Dec. 23, 1941 2,512,778 Root June 27, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS I 965,556 France i.. Feb. 22, 1950 443,549 Italy Dec. 27, 1948 

